
IMAGE SOURCE GETTY IMAGES image caption The Chinese plant operator said it had shut down one reactor after “lengthy” talks with technical staff
The plant operator said in a statement it had shut Unit 1 at the Taishan nuclear plant in Guangdong province after “lengthy” talks with technicians.
Taishan is the first site in the world to have this kind of reactor.
The type of reactor – known as EPR – is also set to be built in other countries, including Finland, France and at Hinkley Point C in the UK.
The latest move comes a month after the Chinese government acknowledged damage to fuel rods at the Taishan unit, but said it was a “common” problem, with no need for concern.
China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) said in a statement on Friday that the reactor was “completely under control”.
In June CNN reported the US government was assessing a reported leak at the site.
CNN said French energy firm EDF, which helps run the site, had warned the US government that China’s nuclear regulator had raised limits on permissible levels of radiation outside the plant to avoid shutting it down.
Fuel rods are sealed metal tubes which hold nuclear materials used to fuel the nuclear reactor.
Last week an EDF spokesperson told CNN the French company would shut the plant down if it could.
The situation at Taishan was “not an emergency” but nevertheless a “serious situation”, the spokesperson added.